The results are in. After months...er, days of heated...er, lukewarm debate we here at Mile High Hockey have put together a protected list for tomorrow's Mock Expansion Draft James Mirtle and Corsican Gabe Desjardins will be acting as GMs for the Nordiques and Jets respectively and will be drafting their teams tomorrow.
Here is the official, fake Mile High Hockey protected list:
Goalie (1): Craig Anderson
Defense (5): Kyle Cumiskey, Scott Hannan, John-Michael Liles, Kyle Quincey, Ryan Wilson
Forwards (9): Matt Duchene, Milan Hejduk, T.J. Galiardi, David Jones, Cody McLeod, Peter Mueller, Ryan O'Reilly, Paul Stastny, Chris Stewart
This means the following players are unprotected:
Goalies: Peter Budaj, John Grahame
Defense: Adam Foote
Forwards: David Koci, Kevin Porter, Daniel Winnik
The voting was interesting. In the forward poll, voters clearly circled the wagons and chose to protect longer-tenured players over new arrivals Kevin Porter and Daniel Winnick but chose to leave team captain and Adam Foote unprotected. Winnick is an especially interesting choice as the Avalanche just acquired him this summer. His exclusion essentially means the Avalanche traded a 4th round pick to protect Cody McLeod.
I believe the two teams will be unveiled next Tuesday, so stay tuned to SBNation to see the exciting conclusion